1st ever raw bone!

[emma_and_tilly]

Well, I went to the butchers today and asked if they gave away bones for dogs, he said 'yes, of course' and gave me 3 big bits of 'brisket' (no idea what that is). I have just given 1 to Tilly, she sniffed, looked, lay down...and then......started to munch!

I would never have had the nerve to try this without reading all the posts on here, and have been meaning for over a month to pop into our butchers, i'll def be going again!!

[ollie nathan's mum]

Well d :Done, did she enjoy it

[emma_and_tilly]

she loved it - i can't find any trace of it! Just got to hope it doesn't cause an upset tum!

[mooching]

Just so's you know, this is what Karma posted about brisket before here:

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=73347.0

Brisket isn't bone, it's cartilage, so easily soft enough to be crunched up. 
Chop it into meal sized portions and go for it, would be my recommendation!!! 

Lucky dogs!!!

And, yes, freeze any you don't give and save for another meal!

[emma_and_tilly]

Thanks Amanda, as it's cartilidge then that explains why there's none left! She had a piece about 6" x 3" (as a rough guess), it still had some fat on - i don't know if that needs to be trimmed off - any ideas? I gave it to her instead of tea - do you think that's enough or should i do kibble too?

Thanks, Emma

[mooching]

Thanks Amanda, as it's cartilage then that explains why there's none left! She had a piece about 6" x 3" (as a rough guess), it still had some fat on - i don't know if that needs to be trimmed off - any ideas? I gave it to her instead of tea - do you think that's enough or should i do kibble too?

I don't know! lol I've only picked up stuff from here about raw feeding, haven't done it myself (yet).

I'd suggest you send Karma a pm as she knows a lot about this subject - or maybe one of the other raw feeders here will be able to advise you. All I know (I think!) is that you shouldn't give raw and kibble in the same meal, or within a certain number of hours of each other, because of the different rates of digestion.

[emma_and_tilly]

it's so confusing!! i'm not going to feed raw in place of complete dry, i just wanted to give her a bit of variety, just hope i'm not doing her any harm!!

[tigs71]

it still had some fat on - i don't know if that needs to be trimmed off - any ideas?

You should definitely trim off as much of the fat as possible as even small amounts can trigger pancreatitis in dogs.

[emma_and_tilly]

Oh no.......could I have harmed her? What do I need to look out for?

Thanks, Emma

[tigs71]

Oh no.......could I have harmed her? What do I need to look out for?

Thanks, Emma

Not at all Emma - I didn't mean to alarm you.  It is just a good idea to avoid excessive fat in a dog diet, a little left on the bone shouldn't hurt

[emma_and_tilly]

Thank you for such a quick reply, i was worried. I'll make sure i trim fat off the frozen ones before i give them to her.

One more question....do I have to defrost them before she has them?

Thanks again,
Emma

[tigs71]

Thank you for such a quick reply, i was worried. I'll make sure i trim fat off the frozen ones before i give them to her.

One more question....do I have to defrost them before she has them?

Thanks again,
Emma

Technically no but often if very cold food is eaten it is more likely to come back again    Personally I leave all of Masons raw meat and bones to defrost at room temperature for at least 5 hours before I feed them to him.

[praia]

When introducing a kibble fed dog to a raw diet or any new raw meat source I would trim most of the fat, but unless the dog is adjusting to a new diet or is already susceptible to pancreatitis, I've always been told to make sure to include raw fat in their diets.

When feeding raw to my dogs I don't trim any fat, unless it's a big blob of lard with little meat.  When feeding raw meat that is particularly lean like rabbit I will make sure that their next meal has more fat to it.  Fat is energy and dogs require it in their diet, especially if they're very active and aren't eatings carbs. 

I'm a member of a yahoo raw feeding forum and a FB raw feeding page and most of the people on there only trim overly excessive fat or leave it all if they feed whole prey model. 

I defrost meat for a few hours in the sink.  My spaniel will eat it partially frozen with no problems.  My terrier won't eat it cold so his must be defrosted all the way through.

[emma_and_tilly]

Thanks everyone for your responses, i'm going to carry on feeding her complete dry food however 2/3 times a week replace one meal with a raw bone. I think she'll enjoy that!

[madelon162]

Hi
I give my cocker pup Sadie she is 15 weeks a soup bone 2 times a week, The bones are not to big, they dont splinter, once the meat is gone she drags it around for days. She gets a mini rawhide in the morning .